Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank and congratulate Deputy O'Dea and Fianna Fáil for bringing forth this Bill. I support the Bill as it makes provision for ease of access to housing adaptation grants for people with a disability. Currently, huge delays are being experienced across the sector in the processing of various applications. People with disabilities should be given vital funding to renovate their homes within one month of a request. It is appalling that some are being forced to live in nursing homes for up to seven months owing to lengthy delays in the processing of applications for funding to adapt their homes to their physical needs.

When out canvassing in west Cork recently on behalf of my brother, Danny Collins, one of the most common complaints from my constituents was the delay in application processing times. People are on bended knee waiting for applications to be processed. In some cases, the people waiting have no other source of income. I was appalled to hear that not only are people waiting months for an application to be processed, in some cases people are waiting over a year. In my view, Cork County Council is doing the best it can with the resources it has. The area for which it is responsible stretches from Kinsale to Castletownbere. It needs additional resources. The Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, cannot stand idly by and allow these delays to continue. People are suffering. The average time to process a housing adaptation grant for people with a disability is four months, with some applications taking up to seven months.

I support this Bill as I believe it is only fair that the local authorities that administer the housing adaptation grants on behalf of people with disabilities should complete the processing of an application within a timeframe of no more than four weeks from the date of receipt of the application. This timeframe should apply not only to the processing of adaptation grants but across all sectors. There is no doubt that the population is growing and thus we are seeing increases in applications across all sectors and Departments. It is a no-brainer that this Government will need to provide Departments with additional administrative staff to meet the increased demand. People should not have to wait months for an application to be processed.

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